Colorful Cornucopia

As our Canadian Thanksgiving approaches, our home is filled with colors, but not the kinds you'd expect.

Our coffee table overflows with bright yellows, lively reds, bold blues, and every color combination imaginable, reminding me of one of my favorite childhood memories -- gathering school supplies with my mom each August as we prepared for another school year to begin.

Pencils, erasers, markers, pencil crayons, leather gloves, notebooks, skipping ropes, toothbrushes, soccer balls, swim shorts, backpacks, toothpaste, dolls, matchbox cars, pencil cases, and more -- all harvested with the help of back-to-school sales and clearances, little by little, item by item, gathered by family, friends, co-workers.

A colorful cornucopia gathered to bring to Africa, where, less than a month from today, children will have the joy of new school supplies and basic toys -- simple joys that we all too often take for granted.

Fun and educational books about a variety of subjects,

with great pictures and interesting facts... $2 each!

Leather gloves for the men - $20, down to $3!

Soccer tie, from my husband's collection of ties.

Won't Ato Sam look sharp in this when he has his

interview for the Ghana Black Stars in a few years?

Pencils donated by Ford Canada, an unexpected blessing.

Shirts donated by my boss for the twins, George & George,

along with skipping ropes purchased by her daughters.

Now we will know which George is George,

and which one is the other George? :D

Swim shorts – for those “Left Behind”

Soccer balls stacked high, soon to be filled with air,

so that the air can be filled with sounds of joy.

African-American dolls (even though they appear much lighter in the sunlight) -- ready to be held, loved and nurtured by little girls.

From this harvest, we will be able to provide one pencil case to each of the Compassion kids' siblings, each with pencils, erasers, pencil crayons, toothbrushes, candy and a small toy.

Each of the 4 Compassion children will get a backpack with the same pencil case and contents, as well as a very few extras. Their parents will also get a few small, practical gifts.

All the rest, along with the harvest that Tia and Debra have gathered, will be supplied to the children we will be working with at the Village Of Life.

Prayer requests:

Everything that we're bringing was carefully chosen, with the lessons learned in "UnPoverty" kept in mind. Providing to developing countries must be done delicately and sensitively, so as not to bring more harm than good. Please continue to pray that we will provide wisely and that the children will be blessed by our efforts.

We are still in need of a few specific items -- hand pumps for soccer balls (3), wall mounted pencil sharpeners (3, metal construction), toothpaste, toothbrushes, bandaids.

Travel Expenses: As the end of the school fundraising approaches, we will be focusing our efforts on separate fundraising for in-country travel expenses. We are trusting God to continue to provide for this.

As always, pray for the children being rescued, and the children left behind -- all over the world, not just in Ghana. Slavery is at all time high -- there are currently more slaves in the world than there have ever been, 80% of which are women and children... 50% of which are children.

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To read more about our Ghana project: Africa: Child Slavery Rescue 2011

Please note:

Although the Paypal Chip-In button displays our current Chip-In total of $3961.10, we are currently at nearly $14,000, through donations made to our non-profit account at Interlink Ministries.

It may seem as though $14,000 is a long way from our goal of $30,000 to build the school, but rejoice and continue to pray and support this project -- we have great news to share very soon! In the meantime, the harvest continues. There is much work to be done... grateful to be working alongside of you in this.